Memorial Bench

A week ago today we got back from our yearly family trip to the Lake district here in England. It's one of my favourite places to visit... it's such a beautiful place that it draws us back time and time again.  When Heni passed away last October, we all knew that we wanted to return this year on a "memorial trip"... put a bench in a special place, and scatter some of her ashes on one of our "Heni" walks we do each year.

It took a bit of time and effort researching how to go about it all . As I approached a number of organizations to see what could be done, I felt repeatedly dejected to find that our idea was just not looking like it would ever happen.

The Struggle!

I'm now home after a lovely week in the Lake District and back in to catch up mode. I always love to do a few of our favourite walks while we are  up there and take in all the gorgeous scenery. This year we did a few of the usual's.... like Grasmere Lake and Tarn Howes.  We did however add some new ones to the list because we had to stay in the southern lakes due to the road up to Keswick being closed.... it had fallen in to the lake! (caused by all the flooding around Christmas)
We did a lot of Tarn walks....which included Loughrigg tarn, (and here), Blea tarn,  Little Langdale tarn, Moss eccles Tarn (where Beatrix potter loved to go)... and a lovely walk from Wray Castle down by the side of the lake! Some of the walks we took Heni on and others we did on her rest days. We even got to go back to Lucy's again this year for another meal catered to our food intolerances.

On one of the days, we also took a drive up over the hills to Glenridding at the other side of the pass.  To get there you have to go up a 20% gradient road, along narrow stone walled lanes that wind back and forth. The climb covers more than 4.8km of twisting road, cutting through what is a stunning backdrop and the road is aptly named...... its called The Struggle!